While I have been to California quite a bit over the last few years, I checked, and I haven’t been back to Los Angeles since 2017. So, with a US Thanksgiving family visit planned for Laguna Beach, I decided to fly in and out of LAX and tack on a few days to explore Los Angeles for the first time in a long while.
After checking into the Biltmore, a historic hotel that has been the set of hundreds of movies and TV shows, I decided to spend my first afternoon exploring DTLA to get a sense of what was near the hotel, which areas are worth exploring, and which aren’t.
For my first full day, I decided to pack in as much as I could, without getting into a car. While I have no clue what the average LA resident’s relationship with the Metro is, since it’s a very car-centric city, I decided to head over to Historic Broadway Station and take the E Train all the way to Santa Monica Pier. After a quick jaunt at the Pier since I got there early and most of it was closed, I started what I came all this way for, a walk to Venice Beach.
What I didn’t realize is that I enjoyed the walk so much that I decided to not only walk to Venice Beach but also back to Santa Monica after going to a “nearby” In-N-Out Burger and then a walk through the Venice Canals Historic District. After exploring Santa Monica a bit, I ended my walk for the day at about 3.5 hours, and I needed a break.
After a trip back to the hotel and then a few hours of rest, it was time to make it over to Crypto.com Arena. With LeBron James coming near the end of his career, and dressed for the game, I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to see one of the GOATs play some basketball. The game was fun, it was a bit of a scene, and unfortunately the Lakers lost badly, which explains people piling out of the arena during the fourth quarter.
With much less on my schedule the next day, I decided to head up to the Hollywood area to see the sights. Within minutes of starting my walk, I ran into all of the reasons why I shouldn’t have bothered to visit, no matter how iconic the area is. The area is meant for tourists and offers little else. So, once I got my walk in, I hopped back on the Metro.
As a fan of delicatessens, I finally had to try the best one in LA, Langer’s Deli.
Getting to their establishment is definitely interesting.
Taking the B Train back from Hollywood, I saw that I could get off at Westlake / Macarthur Park Station as it was minutes away. While I did my research and knew it was not a good part of town, it was clear that the area was very troubled. At least the Pastrami was great, and the service was what one would expect from a deli (quick, efficient, and no nonsense), so I was out of there minutes after I finished my sandwich.
P.S. The walk from Langer’s Deli to DTLA is not great either; I do not recommend it.
I finished my day off with a visit to The Broad for a quick tour through their contemporary art collection, which was surprisingly strong for a privately funded museum. With free admission, it is a real gift to the city that every visitor should take the opportunity to visit.
Leave a Reply